2018 in Armenia

The following lists events that occurred in 2018 in Armenia.

← 2017 2016 2015 2018 in Armenia → 2019 2020 2021
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2018 List of years in Armenia

Incumbents

• President: Serzh Sargsyan (until 9 April), Armen Sarkissian (from 9 April)
• Prime Minister: Karen Karapetyan (acting, not Prime Minister between 17 April and 23 April), Serzh Sargsyan (17 April to 23 April), Nikol Pashinyan (from 8 May)

Events

February

• February 9–25 – 3 athletes from Armenia competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[1][2][3]

April

• April 17 – Protests intensify after Serzh Sargsyan former President of Armenia is appointed Prime Minister of Armenia, in what opposition figures have described as a "power grab".[4]
• April 22 – Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan is arrested by police after a short meeting with Prime Minister Sargsyan, who left after three minutes alleging he was blackmailed to resign.[5]
• April 23 – Serzh Sargsyan officially resigns as Prime Minister after 11 days of protests and released Pashinyan who was detained yesterday, reportedly stating "The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand," and "You were right; I was wrong".[6]

May

• May 8 – Nikol Pashinyan is elected as Prime Minister of Armenia.[7]
• May 12 – The Pashinyan government is formed.[8]
• May 28 – Celebrations of the centennial of the founding of the First Armenian Republic.[9]

June

• June 16 – Former Deputy Defense Minister and parliamentarian Manvel Grigoryan was arrested in Vagharshapat by the National Security Service and was charged with the possession of firearms and ammunition illegally.[10]

July

• July 26 – The Special Investigative Service (SIS) arrests and charges former President of Armenia Robert Kocharian with “overthrowing constitutional order of Armenia” in response to the 2008 Armenian presidential election protests in the final weeks of his tenure.[11] That same day, Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov was indicted on the same charge of disrupting constitutional order during the protests when he was the then-Commander of the Yerevan Garrison.[12]

October

• October 3 – Pashinyan fires six members of his cabinet after their respective political parties, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation and the Tsarukyan Alliance supported a parliamentary bill which would effectively limit the role of the prime minister in calling snap elections to the National Assembly.[13]
• October 16 – Pashinyan resigns in protest of the actions taken by the two parties and promises to serve as the acting head of government until elections are held.

November

• November 1 – Pashinyan announces that his country will try to begin the process normalizing relations with Turkey without preconditions, saying that recognition of the Armenian genocide is a "security issue", rather than a matter of Armenian-Turkish relations.[14]
• November 6 – The European Party of Armenia is founded in Yerevan by filmmaker Tigran Khzmalyan[15]

December

• December 9 – The My Step Alliance won the parliamentary elections with an overwhelming majority of the vote, resulting in the coalition winning 88 of the 132 seats in the assembly.[16]

Deaths

• February 28 - Albert Mkrtchyan, People's Artist of Armenia[17]

References

1. Shahbazyan, Lusine (21 January 2014). "Sochi 2014: Armenia's 4 Olympians are announced". News.am. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
2. "Cross-country Skiing Quota List for Olympic Games 2018". www.data.fis-ski.com/. International Ski Federation (FIS). 12 December 2017. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
3. "Skier Sergey Mikaelyan wins Armenia's first 2018 Winter Olympics quota". News.Am. Yerevan, Armenia. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
4. "Lawmakers Approve Sarkisian As Armenia's PM Despite Countrywide Protests". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
5. "Armenia unrest: Protesters rally after leader detained". 2018-04-22. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
6. "Shock as Armenia's prime minister steps down after 11 days of protests". 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
7. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/europe/armenia-new-prime-minister-nikol-pashinyan-intl/index.html
8. http://www.gov.am/en/structure/
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2018-05-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. http://hetq.am/eng/news/90282/etchmiadzin-manvel-grigoryan-and-artur-asatryan-arrested-on-illegal-arms-charges.html
12. "Armenian investigators charge head of Russia-led security bloc with "subverting public order"". Eurasianet. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
13. "Armenia: Six Government Ministers Get the Boot - Hetq - News, Articles, Investigations". Retrieved 2019-05-11.
14. "Pashinyan presents vision for normalization of relations with Turkey". Armenpress. 1 November 2018.
15. "Հայաստանի Եվրոպական կուսակցության հիմնադիր համագումարի անցկացման ժամանակի և վայրի, ինչպես նաև կուսակցության կանոնադրության և ծրագրի նախագծերի հիմնական դրույթների մասին հայտարարություն - Հայտարարություններ - Հայաստանի Հանրապետության ինտերնետով ծանուցման պաշտոնական կայք". www.azdarar.am. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
16. "Armenia Parliament Dissolved, Early Elections Set For December". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
17. http://www.president.am/en/condolence/item/2018/02/28/President-Serzh-Sargsyan-sent-a-condolence-letter-to-Mkrtchyan-family/